hopes to make the smart cockpit more user-friendly than other manufacturers around the world with HarmonyOS.

(Photo credit: Huawei)

Huawei's HarmonyOS will be used in cars by the end of this year or early next year, and the first product will be Chongqing Sokon's next-generation luxury midsize SUV, the Chinese tech giant said.

The company hosted its HDC developer conference today, where Richard Yu, managing director and CEO of Huawei's consumer business and CEO of Intelligent Vehicle Solutions BU, announced the plan.

With HarmonyOS, Huawei wants to make the smart cockpit a more user-friendly experience than other manufacturers worldwide, Yu said.

Yu did not reveal more details, but previously Huawei Intelligent Vehicle Solutions BU President Wang Jun revealed that HarmonyOS-A is currently the only open cockpit system and will start to be installed in vehicles this year.

Based on the HarmonyOS car system, Huawei has already started in-depth cooperation with more than 80 hardware and software partners.

Huawei officially announced on April 20 that it will start selling cars in its flagship stores, starting with the Seres SF5 SUV from Sokon, which uses extended-range technology similar to that used in 's Li ONE.

By the time Huawei announced the decision, the Seres SF5 was already largely finalized and it had limited room to play with, offering only a few intelligent components.

This makes the Seres SF5 not much of a Huawei vehicle in nature, even being jokingly referred to as "Huawei Outside," local automotive media Auto Report said last Friday.

The upcoming model with HarmonyOS may be a Huawei-led model.

Auto Report said Huawei will work with Sokon to create a model called Aotu, which will feature the full range of Huawei's smart car solutions.

In contrast, the Seres SF5 is led by Sokon and only uses primary features including Huawei's electric drive system and Huawei HiCar.

On top of that, the car will be fully handled by Huawei from pre-planning and design to post-marketing and sales, according to the report.

"This is equivalent to Huawei buying out the model, with Sokon Seres only responsible for OEM production," the source said.

Huawei reportedly to build new car with Sokon in a model similar to partnership between NIO and JAC